Maxwell's Silver Hammer

"Maxwell's Silver Hammer" is a song by The Beatles, from the Abbey Road album, with Paul McCartney singing lead. It was written by McCartney, though the songwriting credit is Lennon-McCartney. George Harrison described it in 1969 as "one of those instant whistle-along tunes which some people hate, and other people really like. It's a fun song, but it's kind of a drag because Maxwell keeps on destroying everyone like his girlfriend then the school teacher, and then, finally, the judge." In 1977, Harrison would be less charitable, stating "I mean, my God, 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer' was so fruity."^[1]

Structure

The vaudevillian-style song is about medical student Maxwell Edison, who uses his silver hammer to murder his girlfriend Joan, then his teacher, and finally the judge during his murder trial. Despite the grim subject matter, the song is bouncy and upbeat. Although thought by many fans to be a thinly-veiled allegory on the Charles Manson murders, this is impossible because the Tate-La Bianca murders occurred on August 8 and 9 1969, after the song was recorded. McCartney said in 1994 that it merely epitomizes the downfalls of life:

"'Maxwell's Silver Hammer' is my analogy for when something goes wrong out of the blue, as it so often does, as I was beginning to find out at that time in my life. I wanted something symbolic of that, so to me it was some fictitious character called Maxwell with a silver hammer. I don't know why it was silver, it just sounded better than Maxwell's hammer. It was needed for scanning. We still use that expression now when something unexpected happens."

The song took three days of overdubbing because McCartney imagined that it could be a future single. John Lennon later recalled, "he did everything to make it into a single, and it never was and it never could have been." According to Lennon, the band spent more money on that song than any other on Abbey Road, and he derided the song at the time as a prime example of McCartney's "granny-style" writing. McCartney referred to the song when talking about his 2005 album Chaos and Creation in the Backyard:

"In the past I may have written tongue-in-cheek, like 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer', and dealt with matters of fate in a kind of comical, parody manner. It just so happens in this batch of songs I would look at these subjects and thought it was good for writing. If it's good enough to take to your psychiatrist, it's good enough to make a song of."

In the 1978 film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the song is performed by comedian Steve Martin, who portrays the character Maxwell Edison. Frankie Laine also covered the song, as part of the musical documentary All This and World War II, which featured stock and newsreel footage of the Second World War, set to performances of music by The Beatles.

Personnel

• Paul McCartney – vocal, backing vocal, piano, guitars,Moog synthesizer
• George Harrison – backing vocal, lead guitar
• Ringo Starr – backing vocal, drums
• Mal Evans – anvil
• George Martin – organ

Credits per Ian MacDonald^[2]

Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• In the film Let It Be, McCartney attempts to teach the song to the rest of the band, who are clearly less than enthusiastic.
• The "Silver Hammer Man" coda seems to be a deliberate pastiche of Mason Williams' 1968 song "Long Time Blues"; the arrangement and performance of this coda echo the arrangement and performance of the titular line in Williams' song nearly perfectly. Additionally, the coda appears after the song has already resolved to a nice conclusion, which invites speculation regarding whether the "Silver Hammer Man" coda was perhaps a nod to (or a tease on) Williams.^[3]
• The online game Kingdom of Loathing includes a melee weapon named Maxwell's Silver Hammer.
• Actual cartoon from the song which was used in the Abbey Road launch, Late Night Line Up BBC 2, can be seen at this link. Phil Jenkinson the rock pop video pioneer made the barber shop quartet dance to the song Maxwell's Silver Hammer.[1]
• McCartney can be heard sniggering as he sings the line "... writing fifty times I must not be so ..." on the studio recording. This is often rumored to be because as McCartney sang the line "so he waits behind," Lennon mooned McCartney from the control room.^[4] This is untrue as Lennon was not present at the recording sessions for the song.^[5]
• A homicidal cult is believed to have used this name in the 1970s, claiming the lives of five campers in Santa Barbara, California. Mentioned by the Manson family.^[6]
• Comedian Patton Oswalt refers to "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" as a euphemism for a hypodermic needle used for injecting heroin.^[7]
• In the popular computer game Deus Ex, a datacube found in the MJ12 sewer base is addressed to one "Lt. Maxwell Hammer".
• As a possible coincidence, Joe Orton, who was a successful playwright known to The Beatles, was murdered with a hammer by his lover, Kenneth Halliwell on August 1967. The name 'Halliwell' also bears a vague similarity to 'Maxwell'.
• In the cartoon series Gargoyles, at a Quarryman meeting (note: the Quarrymen were a precursor to The Beatles), the chairman recommends that Maxwell be awarded a silver hammer.
• Maxwell's full name according to the song is "Maxwell Edison", surnames of a mathematician/physicist and inventor respectively.
• In the 2007 Film, Across The Universe, in which most characters are named after lyrics in Beatles songs, a principal character named "Max" is a Princeton student (although not necessarily majoring in medicine), is repeatedly described as mentally unstable, and in one scene is noisily battering a fan with a hammer.

Notes

References

• The Beatles Ultimate Experience Database
• Turner, Steve. A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles' Song, Harper, New York: 1994, ISBN 0-06-095065-X
• Lewisohn, Mark. The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Hamlyn, 1988. ISBN 0-681-03189-1.
• Joe Orton Diaries Published 1986 - methuen